Brookland - St Augustine

St Augustine is unique and is reminiscent of the wooden stave churches of Norway. The bell tower is completely separate from the rest of the church, being made entirely of wood. Originally it was just an open wooden framework to support a single bell. This structure probably dates from 1260, which is when the current church was built.

The church has of course been remodelled and enlarged several times over the years. The most interesting part here is the Norman font.

The lead font is one of the 30 such fonts in England. This one represents the "labours of the months" and uses signs of the zodiac to represent the 12 months.

It is unclear where it originated or where it was produced. To create such a vessel, the lead plates were cast, bent round while still warm and then soldered. Medieval high tech,

A lead font similar to this was found in the Normandy